The Good Quote
Open menu
Quotes
Authors
Topics
More
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
Home
Authors
Steve Buscemi
American
Actor
About the author
It doesn't matter so much where the material comes from, as long as it's good.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
It doesn't matter what part I play, I try and commit myself 100 percent.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Play
It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Acting
#School
My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a dig.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Favorite
#Mail
My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Training
#Actor
#Theatre
The director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell. He gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Responsibility
#Actor
The first movie I had a featured role in was Parting Glances.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#First
#Parting
What was frustrating about Armageddon was the time I spent not doing anything. It was a big special effects film, and I wasn't crazy about pretending I was in outer space. It feels ridiculous.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Time
#Film
#Space
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Prison
With Animal Factory you'd think that because it's mostly interiors, you could shoot it anywhere. So we shot this in Philadelphia, and we had the cooperation of the prison system.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Prison
#Cooperation
Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Life
#Parents
#Father
#Trees
When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Feeling
#Control
#Losing
#Production
#Talking
#Hearing
#Trees
In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Film
#Being
#Question
#Beginning
I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Writing
The trend now is to shoot in Canada because it's cheaper, and they don't care what the location is.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Now
#Care
#Canada
I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#People
#Feeling
#Society
All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Want
#Film
#People
#Vision
#Ideas
#Brothers
Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
Bob Altman had this relaxed but serious attitude. Everybody loved him. I wanted him to adopt me.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Attitude
Communication is the key, and it's one thing I had to learn-to talk to the actors. I was so involved with the visual and technical aspects that I would forget about the actors.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Talk
#Forget
#Key
#Communication
#Actors
Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Television
I did stand-up. I loved George Carlin and Steve Martin.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Martin
I didn't think I'd ever be able to do movies. That was for serious actors.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Movies
#Actors
My greatest hope was to get discovered as a comedian and get on a sitcom.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Hope
I never made a daring rescue, which is the story people want to hear. I did go to my share of fires.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Want
#People
I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Character
I think all comics borrow from each other. Only a few have an original voice, and I wasn't one of them. In the end, I couldn't figure out who to steal from, so I stopped doing it.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#End
#Voice
I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Years
I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#People
It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
I was going to buy a van and move to LA so I could secretly pursue acting without any of my friends knowing.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor
#Acting
#Friends
I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up.
Steve Buscemi,
American
Actor